Hi there

Thanks for popping in. Late blog I know. I got caught up in the moment, doing pottery, smoothing out some pinch pots I have been making in readiness for the Clarity Open Days next week. Well, and before you could say “That’ll do Donkey” – it was 10 o’clock!

They need time to dry out slowly, before they get bisque fired in the kiln. Then I have to wait 2 days before the kiln can be opened, then – and only then – comes the glaze and sea glass, before they are loaded into the kiln for another firing. So if these little fellas are going to the ball (aka the Open Days) they need to dry out before Saturday! If you put them in the kiln when they still have moisture, they usually crack.

In the meantime, the kiln was emptied last night, and it was a pretty good haul. Very pleased!

Doing pottery energizes me like nothing else. I could work in the garage for 8 hours, and think nothing of coming indoors and cracking on with housework and cooking. And whilst I am cooking I am thinking about what’s next to do in the garage!

But work is work, and we have to keep the good ship Clarity afloat! So I can’t be disappearing off to the garage for days on end! Or can I….

This week I thought that I would fire up the old “A Moment of Clarity” bus, and tie it in with the current Design of the Week.

The Design of the Week is where we shine a light on a product and offer them to you with a 30% discount to celebrate our 30th year in business

This week is the wonderful KISS Doodle Tiles, Discs and Framers designed by Tina Cox. I love these little pattern making stamps! So useful!! So I thought this would be the perfect week to do a demo on Facebook LIVE.

Available HERE

A Moment of Clarity is a little LIVE session, where I shine a light on a product during a Facebook / YouTube Live session, sharing inspiration from the design team, together with a little demo full of tips, tricks and techniques from yours truly. If you can’t join me live; you can always watch afterwards.

The bus leaves the depot at 7pm on Friday 2nd June. In fact, I was thinking we might get together with these little Moments of Clarity every couple of weeks. Always on a Friday. Always at 7pm. So often we design really beautiful stamps, Groovi plates , stencils etc, but after a single airing on TV they get mothballed and forgotten. So this is our way of taking another look at them, putting them through their paces. That way, if you bought them when they were launched, you may also remember you’ve got them in your stash! Or you may have missed them altogether, in which case we want to show you them too. Especially when there’s 30% off the Design of the Week (plus club discount!) Barginn!!

For more information, check out our “A Moment of Clarity” section on the website HERE where you will find a downloadable ingredients list, together with the products being used. I shall be showing off the Bijou Ribbon Writing Stamps too.

Here is some inspiration from the design team

So cool. You cannot believe how much design there is packed into these stampsets. Hours and hours of play and art!

Quote for the Day…

Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life

Confucius 

Sue at work said it in a meeting recently, and it really resonated with me. Maybe I’m not such a workaholic after all. Maybe I just love my job so much I don’t think of it as work. Seriously. I certainly enjoyed being in the office today, powering through new ideas and art with the Designers. They keep me young.

I had suggested something to do with new Stencils, and Lisa – brilliant Lisa, who also happens to make all the stencils – disagreed with me. “Fair enough” I said, “You’re making them! Let’s go with what you think”. “Sorry,” she said. “Are you kidding?! Don’t apologise for saying what you think! ”

One of the things I love best about my team (and I do think of them as MY team) is that they aren’t afraid to disagree and put forward ideas. What would be the point of employing people who just tell you what you want to hear, or agree with everything you say? What a total waste of brilliant talent that would be.

You’ll meet us all at the Open Days. Lisa is on the till, Jazz is on refreshments with Linda, Jeannine is our Greeter together with my sister-in-law Sheila, Jim is photographer for the day, Sue and both Debbies are helping our guests, Jilly and Paul are demonstrating and entertaining, together with a whole host of cool talented friends: Tina Cox, Jane Telford, Glynis Whitehead, Sam Crowe, Leonie Pujol, Eileen Godwin, Dawn Wheeler, Hazel Edwards, Sonia Goodliff and Tina Morris. All friends. I like that. And me? I shall be chatting, drinking tea, giving away raffle prizes, keeping an eye on Mum – and selling pottery !! WIGIG!! When it’s gone, it’s definitely gone!! It’s time to practise what I preach, own my art, be proud of it, and put myself out there – with a different hat on.

Right. Time for bed, said Zebedee.

Love always,

Barb x x x